1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an array variable capacitor apparatus, and more particularly, to a variable capacitor apparatus in which variable capacitors having different degrees of stiffness are arranged in an array pattern.
2. Description of the Related Art
Radio frequency (RF) systems for processing RF signals require matching circuits or tunable filters to transceive information using wide-band or multi-band frequencies. Matching circuits or tunable filters may be implemented using a plurality of capacitor arrays.
For example, a tunable filter may employ a variable capacitor using a varactor. However, the range within which such a variable capacitor is able to be tuned to signals is limited, so it is impossible to tune to signals having variable ranges. Additionally, the quality coefficient Q of the variable capacitor may change so that performance of the filter may be reduced, and power loss can be increased.
Alternatively, a matching circuit or a tunable filter fabricated using micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) technology requires an additional switch because such circuits or filters employ fixed capacitor arrays or variable capacitor arrays. Accordingly, if a matching circuit or tunable filter is fabricated using a fixed capacitor array or a variable capacitor array, the size and manufacturing costs of the matching circuit or tunable filter may increase. Additionally, an increase in parts such as switches causes insertion loss in RF signals to increase.